Friday, October 29, 2010

As I write this, I'm sitting in the back of the room, waiting my turn to speak to some criminal and civil lawyers at a criminal law CLE in Jackson Mississippi.

I'm listening to 41 year-old lawyer Steve Farese. He's doing the ethics hour. He spoke a little bit about communication and disclosing adverse case law to the court. But for the last 20 minutes or so he's been talking about being a good lawyer. He's been talking about going beyond the rules, going beyond what's required. He's now getting loud as he speaks about how he's tired of what people think about lawyers, specifically about criminal lawyers. He's not impressed with lawyers who talk tough at the initial consultation, or put on a "magic show" in court. He keeps saying "that's not what it's about."

He says it's about "doing a good job."

I write this as I think about all the bullshit artists on-line who, for a fee, will double your income, and all the failed and former lawyers who can tell you how to do "it" right.

Steve Farese is nothing more than a real criminal defense lawyer. He's not fancy. I don't know if he has a marketing plan or if he's on the first page of Google.

I know that he keeps talking about "what it's about, and says what it comes down to is "what your responsibility is." He wants to know if when your client walks out of your office he "knows what the hell you just said to him?"

He's worth a plane ticket to Mississippi if you find he's on the schedule.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.

Monday, October 25, 2010

A frequent question from law students facing a hearing before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners is "does (this) matter?"

Yes.

It all matters.

The way you look, the way you act, the demeanor you present.

There are things that matter that shouldn't, but I don't get to make those decisions.

I believe anything stupid you did during your first year in college shouldn't matter. but it does.

I believe anyone on the board who did the same stupid thing you did in college, shouldn't be able to ask you about that stupid thing you did in college, but they can.

I think more matters now because 2,000 students a year are graduating from Florida law schools, and the "Bar" is being set higher.

I sit in these hearings month after month and while sometimes I feel the Board "gets" it, more and more I believe the hearings are aimless. Traffic tickets? Really? Underaged drinking where the student got a citation, never went to court, and forget about it? C'mon.

The issue is whether the applicant has the character and fitness to be a Member of the Florida Bar, not whether they are perfect, and not whether they can do well under the gun of a 30 year lawyer who knows how to cross examine a witness.

Things happen in people's lives that they are not proud of. The issue is whether they can own up to it and understand its impact.

Not everything someone did in their life that violates some moral compass or infraction that is almost a rite of passage in college is grounds to call into question their ability to practice law ethically.

Ok, I feel better.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.

Twitter, at its core, is a means of communication. To some, it is their career. To some, it is their life. Those obsessed with the fallacy that twitter is the key to building a successful career in any field are angered anytime anyone (like me) states anything to the contrary. It's not that they disagree, it's that the mere voicing of any disagreement with the notion that twitter or social media is the end-all-be-all, may actually cause people to agree. Those that have failed at substantive careers and opened up offices in Starbucks or their kitchen tables don't want word to spread that it's all a cruel, meaningless, irrelevant, joke.

When I first starting using twitter, I soon stopped. I didn't understand it. I was urged to try again, and given, for free, the best social media advice around - "just get on there and start talking to people."

So I did.

Then I got it. Twitter is a conversation, nothing more.

Twitter is also a great medium for former and failed and disbarred, and convicted lawyers to parade themselves as relevant to those desperate lawyers looking for the silver bullet of success. There are as many "Top 10" lists as there are hours in a day. There as those who had their fill of law, whether it was 10 years or 10 minutes, that are there to tell you how to do everything. There are plenty of desperate, broke, Starbucks dwelling lawyers, who are all too ready to believe that a lawyer who practiced "associate" law for 6 months has all the secrets to building business.

Few ask questions, many kiss the ass of those that have no specialized knowledge of the medium other than that they are "passionate" about it. The circle of those that think each other "awesome," or "change agents" or "gurus," or "rock stars," is a circle of the most irrelevant humans on the planet.

Then there is the notion that the use of social media must, must, have goals. Bullshit. Those that preach this are doing so because they can sell you those goals. Those who preach secrets of social media are shameless losers merely looking for that desperate consumer who will maybe write a check for some "guru" advice.

No lawyer will ever build a practice on twitter. Have I received referrals and cases "from" twitter? Sure. But it's not because I dimed out the latest fake lawyer claiming to be the Wizard of Oz, or because I mentioned the word "law" or "lawyer" or whatever. I received and receive referrals and cases from twitter because people take a closer look, because I actually have an office, and a practice, and clients, and cases.

The cart never comes before the horse - except on twitter. My rule is that anyone on twitter trying to get you to pay them for social media advice, is someone from whom to stay far away. There is a collection of these scam artists, these tweeters of everything shiny and techno and social media like, who claim to know something. They know nothing. They like social media, that's all.

Sure I'll be back on twitter. I enjoy the conversation. I've met some great people. I have developed relationships with lawyers and other people not because they are on twitter, but because who they really are.

My time off from twitter has given me a new perspective on the conversation going on there with those former(and even current)-lawyers-turned-social-media-idiots. Some of the conversation is nothing more than re-tweeting articles about social media, and re-tweeting articles about new shiny things and their sure domination over the world. Twitter still, is the worst place to find real lawyers, because the real lawyers are not interested in conversations about cell phones and their apps. Technology is a tool for lawyers, not the core of their existence.

The further I am from these shallow "lawyers," the more I am embarrassed by their existence in my profession. The more I wonder why anyone listens to them, except for the fact that they believe snake oil is the solution to their woes. Meaningless conversation is always important to get through a day. To some of these folks, it's the entirety of their conversation. To some, their day is based on meaningless conversation, attempts to get hired by lawyers, and making sure everyone knows that people love them. These "lawyers" will never accomplish anything important, except to have someone else tell them how awesome they are.

The lying continues, the demeaning of our profession continues, and the hope of desperate lawyers looking to retire off of twitter, continues. It's all very sad.

I look forward to jumping back in to the mix, and continuing to point out all the garbage that calls themselves "lawyers." To me, it's fun. To others, it's sadly, all they have.

Please RT.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

My last post touched a nerve or two - writing about entitled law students who blame their law school for their woes. It's tough for a law student to admit that attending law school was solely for the cash at the end of the tunnel, and it's harder to admit that attendance was based on a sales pitch.

Hence, this comment:

What the scamblogs criticize the law schools for is falsifying employment data to fraudulently show that if you graduate from law school you are more likely than not to get a secure job for reasonable pay. If the Career Services Office publishes figures showing that 95% of their graduates were employed after graduation in order to convince people to pay tuition to go to their school, when they know that number is false, that is fraud. Why are you defending fraud?

If the Career Services Office publishes figures showing that 95% of their graduates were employed after graduation in order to convince people to pay tuition to go to their school, when they know that number is false, that is fraud.

Quite possibly, yes. It is fraud. But you, the law school applicant, are a fraud as well. You, the future lawyer that considers this statistic in determining whether to attend not only a certain law school, but law school at all.

The comment here, answers the question in the affirmative - that yes, there is a line of law school applicants that are hooked by the notion of almost guaranteed job offers upon displaying your degree. Today's law student (no, not all of them) wants to blame the law school for "roping" them in to 3 years of busting their ass. Three years of hard work with a false guarantee of a job.

What should really occur is a question on the law school application that says:

"Are you stupid enough to invest 3 years of your life in this school based on our sales pitch that you'll get a job? If 'yes,' please stop filling out this application and discard."

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.